THE new owners of a Malvern shop are hoping to tap into the town's artistic temperament to take the business forward.

Adrian and Hannah Sutton took over Malvern Hills Art, in Belle Vue Terrace, in October, and have so far concentrated on learning the picture framing side of the business, which accounts for 60 per cent of turnover.

But the couple - who moved to Malvern from Tooting Bec, London, when they bought the business from Paul Rayson - have a personal interest in art and are now branching out into exhibitions to capitalise on Malvern's artistic and cultural heritage.

"Malvern is a very artistic place," said Mr Sutton, who was an investment banker in London.

"There are lots of practising artists in Malvern and we have Malvern Theatres as well. There is a lot of talk about what can be done to regenerate Malvern and promote it as a tourist destination.

"For example, the Elgar Festival - which hotels are trying to tie in with - and local art exhibitions will hopefully bring people into the town."

The pair have kept the shop's full-time picture framer on, but now feel ready to tackle new areas.

"The first six months has been the bedding-in part and getting up to speed with how everything works," said Mr Sutton. "It's been a steep learning curve but we've managed to grasp most of the technical stuff and now we have breathing space to work out how we're going to position the business.

"We are not tampering with the picture framing but we have a good size shop here so we thought it would be good for art exhibitions."

He said local artists had exhibited there for years by renting cabinets at the front of the shop.

"We manage that and take a commission on anything they sell, so moving into exhibitions was a logical step."

Mrs Sutton is an aspiring artist having grown up with artist parents. Her father, Jeffrey Spedding, paints composers, including limited edition prints of Edward Elgar.

The current exhibition, which runs until July, is of Welsh artist Steven Allan Griffiths' still-life watercolours.